Gender Roles and Julia Gillard

Part 1

http://www.theage.com.au/national/gillard-sworn-in-as-pm-as-ministers-arrive-at-government-house-20100914-15aeq.html

Part 2

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/07/27/australian-poll-focuses-changing-gender-roles.html

Part 3

The first link is an article from The Age, “Gillard sworn in as PM as ministers arrive at Government House”, about Julia Gillard being sworn in as the first elected female Prime Minister. The article describes the swearing in ceremony and who will be accompanying her in various positions. The second article from the Jakarta Post talks about changing gender roles on the campaign. Since Julia Gillard is the first female to hold such a position, a question that was posed was what her partner Tim Mathieson’s role would be. Even though Gillard is not married, when questioned during her campaign, she “reassured reporters that [Tim] would be performing the typical spousal duties if she won.” With her being elected, it poses a different gender dynamic by a political leader that has not happened before. The article also points out other gender role issues such as the paid parental leave plan. It was interesting to read how a topic of discussion is about the paid parental leave plan that is set to be implemented next year. Under the plan both men and women are given money to stay home and care for a child, however men would only get paid the equivalent of the mothers salary and not their own seeing as men often earn more than women. The issue surrounding this plan is that it is penalizing men who want to stay home and care for the children because they would not be able to maintain their salary. Gender roles are becoming more equal but with the parental leave plan in mind, it still seems to be geared towards the mothers being at home and the men staying in their careers since men still have higher salaries than women.